


The Pivotal Right | New Year's Eve

by Milliadoc_Brandybuck



Series: Downton Abbey [1]
Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Christmas, F/M, First Kiss, New Year's Eve, New Year's Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:54:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28407318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milliadoc_Brandybuck/pseuds/Milliadoc_Brandybuck
Summary: A New Years Eve scene from my Downton Abbey fic 'The Pivotal Right'.Nell Clark is a suffragette who catches the eye, friendship and heart of newly widowed Tom Branson. Of course Lord Grantham does not approve, but then he finds something out about Nell and he suddenly approves a whole lot more.This is a New Years Eve extract written for a Prompt Competition: the prompt 'Your OTP spend New Years Eve together'.
Relationships: Tom Branson/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Downton Abbey [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2080563
Kudos: 5
Collections: Christmas Prompts 2020





	The Pivotal Right | New Year's Eve

**December 1922, Downton Abbey**

“Tom,” Robert came bursting into the nursery where Tom was laid on his stomach playing horses with his daughter. “What is the meaning of this extra name?”

Tom looked up lazily. He had already had this argument many, many times with his father-in-law over the last few months. 

“You remember Nell?” Tom said with a hint of rebellion in his tone. 

“I remember you bringing that silly suffragette to our house in February.” Robert was flushed around the ears as he waved the guest list at Tom. “I don’t like having her preaching values around the children.” 

“She doesn’t preach.” Tom muttered, mostly to himself. Tom sighed and kissed Sybbie on the head. He indicated for the nurse maid to take over, not wanting to have arguing with his father-in-law happen in front of her. Robert got the hint and stormed out to the hall as Tom followed, shutting the nursery door behind him. Robert looked at him expectantly. 

“You know perfectly well that the suffragettes were not silly.” Tom reminded him softly. He had reminded him many a time since February when he had, indeed, brought Nell to dinner. She had not been back since due to the way the family treated her, though Tom had met her occasionally for walks or drives in the countryside. He loved how free a spirit she was. She reminded him of his own poor wife, dead now for two years. 

“Well,” Robert bristled, “You had to choose one that was.” 

“I didn’t choose her.” Tom couldn’t help but laugh when Robert got a bee in his bonnet like this. “We’re friends. And she can’t see her own family on New Years Eve.”

“Can’t afford the travel?” Robert said in a snobbish voice. 

Tom frowned at him, surprised. Robert had mellowed so much in the last few years after Sybil and Matthew and everything that had happened, that sometimes Tom forgot Robert was a stuck-up Lord at heart. 

“Her family are out of the country.” Tom told him coldly. Robert frowned. How could they afford to leave the country? “I thought it would be nice to extend the hospitality of Downton to a guest. Yourself and Mary are forever begging me to make friends.” 

Robert pursed his lips. He couldn’t argue there. 

“Very well.” He said. “But one word of women's rights and she leaves. Women over 30 have the vote, what else do they want?” Robert turned on his heel and stormed away before Tom could say another word. Tom rolled his eyes and shook his head. Robert always had to have the last word. At least he had consented to Nell visiting for New Years Eve. Tom felt his heart flip a little at the thought. He had thought it was too early to move on, but how wrong he had been. 

New Years Eve at Downton Abbey was always a wondrous affair. The servants pulled out all the stops to deck the halls and fill the rooms with cheer. Even Robert couldn’t make himself stay grumpy when surrounded by such festivities. 

Tom had decided to go and pick Nell up in the car himself. He was, after all, originally a chauffeur and he felt if Robert sent someone to pick up Nell then she would be interrogated. 

Tom pulled the car up outside her house and found her waiting on the doorstep. 

“You must be freezing!” He called as he wound down the window. She looked beautiful in the moonlight shining off the freshly fallen snow. “Come inside, there's a blanket in the back.” 

“I’m used to the cold.” Nell said cheerily as she climbed into the passenger seat beside him. “All those sit-ins when I was a girl.” She laughed and checked her lipstick in a compact mirror. Tom looked her up and down. She looked beautiful in an open fawn coat showing a long red velvet dress with a feathered headband on her long blonde curls. She smiled at Tom as she shut the car door. He took a moment to take her in before clearing his throat and focusing. 

“You look beautiful.” He said awkwardly. Nell smiled at him. 

“Thank you, as do you.” Nell replied with a flutter of her long eyelashes. Tom couldn’t help but smile at her flirting as he pulled the car away from her house. Nell happily watched the village pass outside her window before looking to Tom. “Did Lord Grantham put up much of a fight?” 

Tom clenched his fingers a little on the steering wheel. “Not too much.” 

“Why does he dislike me so?” Nell asked. Her eyes were wide and she was genuinely worried. Tom glanced at her and shrugged. 

“He, erm, rejects anything new and different.” Tom explained feebly. 

“You mean like his own daughter marrying an Irish chauffeur?” Nell teased. Tom laughed. 

“Yeah, something like that.” He glanced at her again. 

In the light of the car's headlamps, Nell looked significantly younger than Tom remembered, especially made up as she was with her make-up and long curls. Was Robert fighting against her and Tom’s relationship so hard because he thought she was simply too young? It was impolite to ask a ladies’ age, but Tom had established Nell was born in 1898 in Cumberland. That made her 24, and Tom himself was 37. That really  _ was  _ a significant age gap, but then there had been ten years between himself and Sybil. 

Nell seemed oblivious to Tom’s turmoil as she watched the village fly by out of the window again.  _ Screw the age gap _ , Tom thought, he  _ liked _ Nell and she liked him. It was easy to be around her. She was the first woman since Sybil to make him feel, well, anything like his old self. Tom shifted in his chair, his mind made up. Robert’s blessing or no, he would keep Nell in his life. If that meant that he himself had to leave Downton, then so be it. 

Nell had been to the house twice: once around Valentine’s Day in February when she and Tom had first met. They had bumped into each other in the post office and, after establishing a connection, Tom had invited her to the Valentine's Day buffet being hosted at the big house. Nell had not gone down well as soon as Robert had found out that she was a ‘silly suffragette’ in his words. Cora, Lady Grantham, had felt differently. She found Nell quite endearing, but her word clearly wasn’t enough. The other time had been during the summer when Robert had been abroad in the United States. Tom had invited Nell round to a garden party. Ladies Mary and Edith did not seem all too happy that Tom had invited a woman. 

As a result, Nell was understandably nervous as the car pulled up to the house. There were many others on the driveway as guests arrived, and so they had a short while to wait. 

“Are you okay?” Tom asked as he noticed Nell had gone quiet. 

“Does Lord Grantham still think me a ‘silly suffragette’?” Nell bit her lip as she looked up at the brightly lit house. 

Tom sighed. His sigh was enough to give Nell her answer. 

“Was my coming here a mistake?” Nell asked him. Her eyes were wide as she asked him genuinely. 

“No.” Tom said quickly, frowning at her. “You are my guest. I was an Irish rebel once and he let me in.” Tom tried to laugh but Nell just swallowed. Tom reached out and took her hand. “Listen. If he gives you any grief, just send him to me.” 

Nell looked down at their clasped hands and then back at his eyes. Her breath caught in her throat and she nodded. 

“Maybe I just won’t mention suffrage.” Nell said with a small smile. 

“That would also work.” Tom smiled at her. They were beckoned to pull forward and so the conversation ended and Tom parked up. 

Lady Grantham was standing by the door to greet the guests as Tom and Nell entered. Nell allowed the footman to take her coat and looked around the beautifully decorated hall. She let out an audible sound of appreciation until Tom had handed his own coat to Thomas and then taken Nell’s arm. 

“Lady Grantham.” Nell nodded her head as they reached Cora. She was determined to be well behaved this evening, to change Lord Grantham’s mind. Cora smiled at her. 

“Eloise.” Cora said warmly, “How lovely to see you again. Welcome.” She gave Nell a small nod of reassurance and Tom smiled gratefully at her. At least one of the family was accepting. Tom could feel Nell’s arm trembling.

“Hey,” He whispered, “Are you okay?”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a big house.” Nell said quietly as she looked around. “My manners aren’t what they once were.”

Tom frowned. She had said something similar when they had first entered Downton back in February. What big house had she been in before? 

“Don’t worry.” Tom said quickly. “Just smile and remember your Lords and Ladies and you’ll be alright.” He assured her. They approached Mary and Edith standing by the Christmas tree. “Mary, Edith, good evening.”

“Hello Tom,” Mary said, then paused as they looked to his guest. 

“You remember Nell?” Tom asked. 

“Lady Mary, Lady Edith.” Nell said in a small voice. 

“Eloise, isn’t it?” Edith said. Nell nodded. “Eloise…”

“Clark, my lady.” Nell replied politely. 

“Clark?” Edith frowned. “Why is that familiar? You look familiar, too.” 

“It’s a common surname?” Mary said curtly. Nell glanced to Tom as Mary degraded Edith. Edith fell quiet and Mary forced a smile at Nell. “Welcome.” 

Nell did not particularly  _ feel  _ welcome, but she took it all the same. Tom led her away. 

“Come meet Sybbie.” He said.

“Oh, yes please!” Nell cheered up as they approached the children under the tree. Tom leaned close to whisper to her. 

“Never mind Edith and Mary.” He assured her, “They tend to act like primadonnas around other women. Always must they be head of the hierarchy.” 

Nell giggled, though she felt nervous. Edith had thought that she recognised her. Nell had been told many a time that she resembled her aunt, the one that she kept secret, along with the name of her family. She rarely used her second name in introductions as she had long since left that life far behind. She wondered briefly, as Tom stooped down to talk to the children, if Nell should tell Tom the truth about her heritage, or who her aunt was. 

No, not tonight. Not on New Years Eve. 

The truth about Auntie Em and Lord Windermere would have to wait. 

“This is Nell.” Tom said proudly as he led his daughter by the hand. 

“Hello Nell.” Sybbie gave a small curtsey. Nell smiled at her and carefully crouched down to her height, careful to keep her dignity as she did. She held out her hand to lightly shake Sybbie’s. 

“Hello Sybbie. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.” Nell said politely. 

“Have you?” Sybbie asked. 

“Of course. Your daddy very rarely stops talking about you.” Nell smiled her lipsticked smile. 

“You’re very pretty.” Sybbie said shyly into her father’s trouser leg. 

“Yes, she is.” Tom agreed in a dreamy voice. Nell met his eye and smiled, feeling her cheeks flush beneath her blusher. She got to her feet. “Run along and find Donk, Sybbie,” Tom gave his daughter a gentle push, “I’m going to show Nell the library.” 

Sybbie happily skipped along. 

“The library?” Nell asked with wide eyes. She had not seen the library before, only heard of it. 

“You like to read don’t you?” Tom smiled. 

“I love to.” Nell agreed. 

“Well then.” Tom held out his hand to Nell. Nervously, her fingers trembling, she took it and let him lead her in through the door near them. 

The library was enormous. It was everything Nell had dreamed. She had not set foot in a library since she was a girl. Tom shut the door behind them. They were alone in the enormous room, the fireplace casting some of the only light. The flames danced on Nell’s beautiful face as she gently and gingerly stroked the books. Tom watched her in seemingly soft focus as she lost herself in the titles. 

“How lucky you are to live here.” She said in a small voice. 

“It has its merits.” Tom admitted. “It can get lonely, though.”

“A big house like this?” Nell frowned at him. “Are you not always surrounded by people? Your family, servants?” Nell almost said something else but stopped herself. She stepped closer to Tom, the fire light cast over both of them.

“The wrong kind of companionship.” Tom said softly. He stepped closer to her still. They were very close together now. Nell fluttered her eyelashes nervously at him. 

“Tom…” Nell whispered. Tom leaned a little closer. 

“You do feel the same, don’t you?” He asked in a barely audible whisper. 

“Of course I do…” Nell agreed with a small smile. “You are the most selfless, gentle man I’ve ever met.” 

Tom smiled at her. “May I kiss you?” He asked before he could stop himself. 

“It’s not yet midnight.” Nell whispered, her stomach flipping. 

“It’s midnight somewhere.” Tom replied. Before they could speak anymore he had kissed her. Nell leaned into the kiss, feeling every fibre of her being lighting itself on fire at the embrace. For almost a year she and Tom had been friends, had met for walks, had talked about everything. She had wanted to kiss him almost that long. He had told her almost everything about himself… 

Yet he didn’t know everything about her. Or, really, anything. 

“Happy New Year.” Tom whispered as he broke away. Their faces were close together, his fingers in hers. 

Nell swallowed. “I have to tell you something.” She said. She couldn’t go on without telling him the truth. It was now or never, a new year's resolution. 


End file.
